10 Dec 2013

Porto Alegre (Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil)

Porto Alegre is the most southern capital of Brazil, and one of largest and most important cities in the country.

His flag is constituted by its coat of arms on a white cloth:

The coat of arms of Porto Alegre has a red cross on gold, representing the Portuguese settlers, as well as the Catholicism that's the main religion on the city. On blue, a golden depiction of the former gate of the city, that was always open in sign of hospitality. In green, a ship that represents the first sixty families that came to the cities, from the Portuguese archipelago of Azores. A golden mural crown with five towers represents the status of capital in Brazilian and Portuguese heraldry, and the scroll reads "Leal e Valerosa (sic) Cidade de Porto Alegre" (in English, "the most loyal and worthy city of Porto Alegre"), title gained during the Empire for keeping loyal during secessionist attempts in the state of Rio Grande do Sul.

Firstly, being Rio Grande do Sul flag a reconstruction of the Rio-Grandense Republic flag, as stated on a previous post, I think references to that flag, although very acceptable, would contradict the historic title of Porto Alegre. The basic inspiration for my flag proposal are the stripes of coat of arms. Look:

The plain yellow-blue-green stripes are a beautiful and rarely used design (at least I can't remember similar design), but, to make sure the flag is unique, I added the cross of the coat of arms. I kept it blue and white, in reference to the flag of Azores, a reference to the foundation and early years of the city.

Your comments are welcome.There are only six remaining cities on the capital series. Wait the next chapters!